Spring 2006

Electrical Walks

Samples of raw sounds

Christina Kubisch

In 2003, Berlin-based sound artist Christina Kubisch began an ongoing project called Electrical Walks. This project employs specially built headphones that receive electromagnetic signals from the environment and convert them into sound. Kubisch maps a given territory, noting hot spots (ATM machines, security systems, electronic cash registers, subway systems, etc.) where the signals are particularly strong or interesting. She then loans the headphones to the public, allowing participants to undertake an auditory dérive through the invisible network of electromagnetic information. To date, Kubisch has undertaken her own personal walks in Germany, England, France, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia, Spain, Taiwan, and the United States, and has held public walks in Berlin, Cologne, Karlsruhe, Bremen, Oxford, and London. To accompany the interview with Kubisch in Cabinet no. 21, she has provided us with thirty sound samples gathered by her while walking through various cities.


1. Light advertisement in Sendai, Japan

00:00 / 00:00


2. Post office in Bremen, Germany; source unknown

00:00 / 00:00


3. Subway in Taipei, Taiwan

00:00 / 00:00


4. Between two security gates at the entrance of a shop; location unknown

00:00 / 00:00


5. Minicomputer at the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM), Karlsruhe, Germany

00:00 / 00:00


6. Bavaria, Germany; source unknown

00:00 / 00:00


7. Tram in Bratislava, Slovakia

00:00 / 00:00


8. Electrical transformer at a farm in Bavaria, Germany

00:00 / 00:00


9. Tram in Karlsruhe, Germany

00:00 / 00:00


10. Thunderstorm in Bavaria, Germany

00:00 / 00:00


11. Object (magnetic field) in the Science Museum, London, England

00:00 / 00:00


12. Sounds in an underground passage, London, England

00:00 / 00:00


13. Security system in Oxford, England

00:00 / 00:00


14. Heathrow airport, London, England

00:00 / 00:00


15. Light systems in Paris, France

00:00 / 00:00


16. Subway in Taipei, Taiwan

00:00 / 00:00


17. Security gate in Bremen, Germany

00:00 / 00:00


18. Religious service heard through an induction system in a small church in Lucerne, Switzerland

00:00 / 00:00


19. Security gate, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France

00:00 / 00:00


20. Induction system in a church in London, England

00:00 / 00:00


21. Signals at a subway station in Taipei, Taiwan

00:00 / 00:00


22. Sounds in the exhibition room at the ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany

00:00 / 00:00


23. Security gate; location unknown

00:00 / 00:00


24. Tram in Bratislava, Slovakia

00:00 / 00:00


25. Electrical flame (decorative object); location unknown

00:00 / 00:00


26. Gare de l'Est, Paris, France

00:00 / 00:00


27. Paris, France; source unknown

00:00 / 00:00


28. WLAN, London, England

00:00 / 00:00


29. Security gate in the Musée de la Science, Paris, France

00:00 / 00:00


30. Tower, Heathrow Airport, London, England

00:00 / 00:00


All tracks copyright Christina Kubisch

Christina Kubisch is a Berlin-based sound artist. A pioneer of sound art installation, she is one of the most prominent European sound artists working today. Trained as a visual artist, musician, and composer, she studied painting, flute, and piano before turning to electronic music in the mid-1970s. Since 1980, she has focused on sound sculpture and sound installations that often involve ultraviolet light, solar energy, and electromagnetic induction.

If you’ve enjoyed the free articles that we offer on our site, please consider subscribing to our nonprofit magazine. You get twelve online issues and unlimited access to all our archives.